A note on empathy

Journal/Book: New Idea Psychol. 1997; 15: The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford, England OX5 1GB. Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd. 179-184.

Abstract: This note suggests that the word ''empathy'' be deleted from the technical language of psychology and replaced by a less ambiguous word or words; for, as it is currently used, empathy is a word which blurs the concept it is meant to define. This note gives a brief description of the muddled etymological provenance of the word empathy in English; suggests that this muddled provenance is at the root of the present confusion about the meaning of this important word; and suggests a means by which that confusion can be done away with: that is, through the introduction of three new terms which distinguish, describe and name the several nuances which the word empathy has currently come to contain.

Note: Article Levy J, SUNY Stony Brook, Dept Theater Arts, Stony Brook,NY 11794 USA

Keyword(s): empathy; involuntary emotional identification; sympathetic projection; sympathetic understanding

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